#anyway re his corpse stench - I think shri’iia likes it in a way that people likes gasoline smell

[swordmaid]

having Thoughts about astarion currently and particularly abt him being undead as in I like the idea that he forgets to blink sometimes, and mimic breathing, and his skin is very pallid, his hair is a dull shade of white/grey and his red eyes looks kind of murky and there is no light in them. also like the idea that his face - even tho there’s wrinkles - looks too smooth, almost a mask, like hes very striking in an uncanny way, and if he keeps himself still he looks like a statue of some sort. and he paints colour on himself to look more alive but the pigments sits above his skin, not sinking in, and the only time that his complexion looks flushed and alive is when he’s feeding on something. most esp if he’s full and sated..! like for that brief moment his cheeks are flushed and he looks alive and thriving and panting and his eyes look more vibrant as if there’s life in there but then it disappears gradually. post canon astarion who’s no longer bound by cazador’s orders and who’s more or less free to eat whoever he wants looks more alive than bg3 spawn astarion (I think he is so malnourished in that era) and he has a slight colour on his cheeks bc he’s keeping himself fed but not enough to look fully alive, only just. think ascended astarion looks more alive than spawn though only bc I don’t think he’ll deny his whims and he’ll just eat whoever whenever while spawn has more restraint.

anyway I was also thinking of the possibility that spawn kind of drops that facade of a living creature, and he doesn’t bother putting on his pigments and makeup as much, and he uses less of his perfumes especially when he’s galavanting off to who knows where. maybe in settings if he’s visiting the city or meeting new people he’ll put his perfumes and makeup again - but sometimes he doesn’t, he doesn’t think he needs it. I also think about shri’iia liking his decay corpse smell hehe maybe she’ll find it familiar considering she grew up in the braeryn and there’s probably a corpse dumped in every gutter she’s like oh you smell like home 🥰